I don’t know about falling in love, but looks sure can be deceiving, which may be why so many of us have at least one ex.

Ears to ya!

You do know the true meaning of politics: poli = many; tics = blood sucking creatures.

Why not? Truth is often stranger than fiction.

To say all Atheists are not immoral is like saying not all Christians are good, or for that matter Christlike. In the last 2,000 years more wars have been fought and more people killed in the name of Christ. All religions claim to be the word of god and all others are false, so by that token all are true and false concurrently. When someone converts, all of a sudden what they once sincerely believed is now untrue. They may well be a creator of some kind somewhere up the spiritual food chain, but it’s highly doubtful it would be a capricious deity who demands loyalty from its creations. What tickles me is believers feel they have to do the work of god. Here was someone who supposedly created the heavens and the earth in 6 daze. Did god retire, or simply get lazy and decided its creations could carry the load. When are you going to start the construction of your new planet?

You may have discovered by now I am one of the noble 16% of nonbelievers. Then there was the bit about a reward in heaven. That was how they suckered the poor, illiterate masses to go off and fight and die in the Crusades. The powers that be will use any means possible to get cannon fodder for their wars of conquest, almost invariably over some natural resource. Islam has the 77 virgin thing, but that was essentially to get poor schleps to fight the invading infidel who believed god was on his side and his reward was forthcoming. I have no idea where they got 77, but perhaps the idea of a harem was popular in those daze.

Religions get started to try and explain who and why we are, but after a while, those in charge get a bit power drunk and that gives them the idea they can tell everybody what to think, feel and believe. All religions start out as a cult and Christianity is no exception. Romans were either Urbus or Pagus (sp?), city dwellers and those who farmed and ranched, known as the Pagans. The city dwellers were the first to accept a monotheistic religion since all that worship cut into the time they could be making money, but the Pagans believed in the gods and were appalled at the thought of a single deity and they insisted on no less than three, which was where the holy ghost originated. Another thing the Romans did when they conquered a culture was allow them to go through the motions of their beliefs, but they made up other reasons for why they did what they did and expected them to forget over several generations and say it was always that way. Someone remembered and passed it along by word of mouth for future generations.

Did Jesus eat the ears off his chocolate bunny rabbits at easter? There is no supporting documentation to prove anything in anybody’s religious texts, so there is no way to prove they were written by who they claim to be. When science supports religion, science is good, but when it doesn’t support religion, the same science is evil. When you insult those for not believing what you believe, that makes you just as big a fool as you call them.

When faced with questionable orders, a good commander should always question them.
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Gentlemen,

Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch rider to our headquarters.

We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty's Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence.

Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and nine pence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion's petty cash and there has been a hideous confusion as to the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall.

This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty's Government so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both:

1. To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit of the accountants and copy-boys in London or perchance:

2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain.

Your Obedient Servant,
Wellington


-- Duke of Wellington, to the British Foreign Office, London, 1812